re: #296 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

If there’s one thing that’s happened while I’ve studied sociology, it’s that I’ve become even more dubious of the idea that society has really changed in abstract ways like having become less focused, or having more ‘ennui’.

You seem to be saying that changing from face-to-face communication to non-online stuff has caused this lack of focus. What do you mean by ‘focus’ or ‘ennui’ and how has the centuries long-change from personal conversations to mass media changed those?

If we’re not less focused as a society, then why are so many kids being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and autism (yes, there are links between the two)? Why do “stress” (in its various forms) and depression seem to be the #1 complaints? How does the “rise of the machines” affect how our brains function? The constantly flickering images of video and early training to prefer visual stimulation of that type does, I think, have a great effect on how our brains develop from childhood.

I look at the kiddie books that are being written today, and they are entirely different from those of my childhood (I don’t remember any “picture” books, for instance). For one thing, I never had “books”, per se, before I went to school, but I did have newspapers and magazines and could read before I entered first grade (there was no kindergarten back then). Also, we had no TV at the time, just listened to radio and we had to concentrate on what was being said.

One of the radio programs I listened to was “Let’s Pretend”, fairy tales and stories re-enacted. en.wikipedia.org Do you think a child would sit still for that now without being in a structured classroom situation and being “forced” to participate?

Look, I’m not just an old person talking about the “good old days”, which weren’t in so many ways. But we already know that “listening” is a trait that is being lost as we wander through the constant bombardment of ideas and thought. I even notice it in myself, too often than I’d like.